A Brief History of the New Deal
Dorothea Lange. Courtesy of Jeu de Paume
In 1929, this country’s stock market crashed and the country was thrust into economic chaos which became known as The Great Depression. It wasn’t until 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt became our new President that successful solutions were implemented to get this country to grow out of the Great Depression.
One of those programs was FDIC that still protects the deposits you make in your bank and the Federal Reserve Board that continues to prevent a total banking collapse as happened in the Great Depression Era. This new Roosevelt administration first developed the referenced solutions to our failed banking situation.
Then he took on the creation of various economic relief programs (many are listed below) that put Americans back to work building numerous public structures all over the nation, implemented conservation activities to preserve the land that was blowing away due to poor environmental conditions and provided social service projects like the creation of Social Security and other labor improvements. There were new jobs for the heavy duty laborers on building roads, highways, dams, bridges, public buildings (courthouses, city halls, schools, post offices, universities, park buildings and much more).
Arts and cultural programs were also created nationwide to get starving artistic folk employed by enhancing both old and new public buildings with their talents, writers hired to write Guidebooks about every state in the union and much more, musical symphony orchestras and other musical groups were created many still existing today.
Millions of our young men (17 to 25 yr.) with few developed skills and limited education plus some WWI veterans (both groups having destitute families) were put to work in a new program, the Civilian Conservation Corps, focused on conserving and preserving our destitute land. The lands were blowing away so Pres. Roosevelt, formerly a tree farmer in NY in addition to other jobs, chose to address the environmental and economic problems by putting those youth to work planting millions of trees nationwide. It was a major success plus they also built roads, trails and buildings in all our national parks and monuments.
Another major project, the new electrification of rural America, made a major improvement in that segment of our country and is still in place today. These numerous and varied work projects saved our families and our country and many of their achievements are still serving us 80 + years later.
KEY EARLY NEW DEAL LEGISLATION AND PROGRAM 1932-1937
1932
RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION (RFC)
1933
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Economy Act
Emergency Banking Act
Emergency Farm Mortgage Act
Farm Credit Administration (FCA)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
Historical American Buildings Survey (HABS)
Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
National Labor Board (NLA)
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
National Youth Administration (NYA)
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Truth-in-Securities
1934
Fair Labor Standards Act
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Indian Reorganization act.
National Housing Act
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture (Section)
1935
Emergency Relief Appropriation Act
Indian New Deal Administration (INDA)
Rural Electrification Administration (REA
Resettlement Administration (RA)
Social Security Board (SSB)
Soil Conservation Service (SCS)
Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP)
Wagner Act
Works Progress Administration (WPA) (changed in 1939 to Work Projects Administration):
• Federal Art Project (FAP)
• Federal Music Project (FMP)
• Federal Theatre Project (FTP)
• Federal Dance Project (FDP)
• Federal Writers Project (FWP)
Historical Records Survey (HRS)
1936
U.S. Maritime Commission
1937
Farm Security Administration (FSA)
Bankhead Jones Act
